the water, the worms, the city become a room resonant with confusion and us . . . (read poem)

"Annual Thaw" is an old poem, first written in Ames, Iowa for Debra Marquart's excellent and endlessly helpful poetry workshop in the Iowa State MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment. Thank so much, Deb and all my old workshop-mates! "Found in the City" is of more recent origin, and in addition to owing the inspiration to Monique and time spent with her, I also owe my thanks to my wonderful friends the Space Poets of NYC for their incredible jams—Heba Jahama, Saronik Bosu, Alexa Logush, and Justin Aoba.

It's also personally gratifying to appear in an issue alongside an essay by Maurice Manning, whose poetry is an inspiration to me and who I was privileged to work with at the Sewanee Writers' Conference in 2015. See the whole issue, including his piece on a Martin Luther hymn, here.